The Trump Doctrine #5: Trumpism, one year in

One year into Trumpism, which is characterized by a combination of absurdism and laughter and of actual fearing and loathing, has seen the notable return of white-nationalist and nativist politics. I’ve covered in my Trump Doctrine series also the successes of denying facts in our post-modern society where we allow our social media to decentralize our information streams further from society’s trusted institutions. Trumpism connects to a wider societal phenomenon of decentralized social media platforms, that are becoming the new institutions of the global civil society that is politically activist and politically hobbyist.

A major flaw of our society’s political hobbyism can be seen in the popularity of President Obama. Though his centric views do generally not appeal to some of his #BernieBros supporters, he is widely appreciated by this same group of people through his charisma and the counterpart to Trumpism he represents. But a problem of political hobbyism is that views are mostly partly informed, and rest on the basis of superficial knowledge. Take Bernie Sanders, a Democratic Presidential candidate in the 2016 election, but an Independent Senator in Vermont. He has refused to switch to the Democratic party or endorse any of the Democratic candidates in the state elections. His refusal sends a message to his supporters that its fine the Republicans stay in power. Meanwhile, Republican governors have been stripping voting rights off of ordinary citizens, Representatives and most Senators continue to support Trump, and the Democratic Party is drifting apart due to personal feuds and political infighting.

Another major flaw of political hobbyism is partiality. Not one example can cover the costs of political identity in its entirety, but the lack of self-reflection of Trump-supporters in the media, on Capitol Hill and as its constituents has been astonishing this year. In a Fox News interview, Trump boasted about stock market gains under his presidency and claimed these business gains lowered the national debt. The mere fact the stupidity of this claim was not held against him by anyone of his administration or by rightwing pundits, means Trumpism and fact-free politics are sure to remain.

It’s worse than it looks. Knowing it’s an awful way to start a new paragraph, sugarcoating the bad state of American politics is what has been happening since the rise of the Tea Party movement and the deregulations on automatic firearms. #ThisIsOK.

Obviously, this is not OK. Especially for those on the opposite side of the aisle who have been fantasizing about an early impeachment of Trump and his removal from office. But as long as Republican leadership will continue to support this President, Trump has an awful good chance to remain in the Whitehouse for the next eight years.

That is to say if Trump manages to push through a Republican business-friendly and low tax agenda. And, has he? Well, so far, failingly. Trump’s incompetence is only exceeded by his absurdism, and that says a lot. Trump has feuded with the Republican leadership since the election campaign, and so far, has lost friends and only gained new enemies. Should Republican leadership declare Trump’s presidency is over after the Midterm elections and decide to clear the field for new contenders in 2020, then Trump may only have the Democrats to support him who favor Trump’s deal-making attitude over the vice-president Pence’s stringent ideology.